Oil Burners

An oil burner is a mechanical device used to prepare the oil for burning in heating appliances such as boilers, furnaces, and water heaters. The term oil burner is somewhat of a misnomer because this device does not actually burn the oil. It combines the fuel oil with the proper amount of air for combustion and delivers it to the point of ignition, usually in the form of a spray.

The fuel oil is prepared for combustion either by vaporization or by atomization. These two methods of fuel oil preparation are used in the three basic types of oil burners employed in commercial, industrial, and residential heating. The following are the three basic types of oil burners:

Gun-type atomizing oil burners are available as either low-pressure or high-pressure types (see Figures 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3). Both are used in residential heating applications with the latter being by far the more popular of the two. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a description of the gun-type high-pressure atomizing oil burners used in residential and light commercial oil heating systems.

The advantage of the vaporizing (pot-type) oil burner is its low operating cost. It is the least expensive to use, but it has limited heating applications. It is currently used only in small structures located in milder climates. Vaporizing burners can be divided into the three following types:

Rotary oil burners are commonly used in the heating systems of commercial or industrial buildings, although they can and have been used for residential heating applications (see Figures 1-4 and 1-5). The following types of rotary oil burners are available for heating purposes: